This invention relates to a visual guidance or reminder system to assist in the administration of medications, whether taken by oneself or given by a caregiver. The pictorial medication system is desirable since many patients must take multiple medications, often at different times of the day. The taking or giving of medications often becomes confusing because of the complex identifying names of the medications, similarities of the containers for the medications, and the circumstance of the patient who may be ill, infirm, or limited in ability to read or to grasp pharmacologic or medical terminology.
The NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PATIENT INFORMATION AND EDUCATION, Washington, D.C. published the following data for the U.S.A. for 1987: (1) Nearly 2.3 billion inpatient and outpatient prescriptions were dispensed; (2) An estimated $23 billion was spent on prescription drugs; (3) The average pharmacy dispensed nearly 27,500 prescriptions that year; (4) In 1986, the Food and Drug Administration received almost 54,000 reports of adverse drug reactions, including 1,347 deaths and 4,1481 hospitalizations; (5) Sales of nonprescription drugs were rising by 6% a year, as two-thirds of Americans self-medicate; (6) Almost 100% of over-the-counter (OTC) medication purchasers used self-selected regimens, and even those taking prescription drugs complied only about 50% of time with the regimens advised.
Among the many problems and complications that arise from the improper timing of medication are ineffectiveness, as with antibiotics or anticonvulsants when doses are missed, or oversedation when doses are taken too close together as with antihistamines. Often, there may be failure to identify the correct medication to be taken or the correct dosage to be administered. Frequently, the very infirmity that requires a patient to take medication, may debilitate judgment and memory.
The interval between doses of a drug, or how frequently during the day a drug must be taken, is determined by its pharmacokinetics, i.e. the rate of absorption, peak blood or tissue level, and rate of degradation and elimination. Thus while the administration of medications is not always critical as to the precise time of the day, it is necessary to take most drugs within readily identifiable periods or at fairly regular intervals. While various dispensers have been devised for periodic dispensing of preselected pills and the like, such devises require preloading by the patient, a caregiver or the pharmacist, and are usually expensive. The visual reminder system of this invention is cost effective, is comprised solely of paper goods, and enables the pharmacist (or less frequently the physician) to quickly and easily select the pictorial representation of the medication to be taken, and to paste such representation on a sheet, in a booklet, on a card, the top of a box, or as a part or tag of a label that can then guide the patient or caregiver in the administration of the medication. Further significant advantages of this pictorial reminder system are that such filled-in sheets may be kept posted in several places about a home such as on the refrigerator door and by the bedside, or kept in a booklet or a card which can be readily carried on one's person as in a purse or wallet. This latter application of the visual guide to medication also permits ready identification of the medication an individual may be taking, which may be of crucial importance to the treating and prescribing physician in the recognition and prevention of polypharmacy and drug-drug interaction, and determination of a suitable regimen for the client. Finally, the ready identification of drugs being taken by a person may be of critical importance in life-threatening situations.
Preferably, the visual depictions of the medications can be directly reproduced on picture stamps from the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) published by Medical Economics Company, from the Compendium of Drug Therapy, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, or from their equivalents in other countries. The icon or stamp of a particular medication preferably includes the name and strength of the drug as additional reminders to the patient or caregiver, providing a learning experience in associating the appearance of the drug with its name and strength.
The principal object of this invention is to provide a convenient and inexpensive means of identifying particular medication and the time of day and period that the medication is to be taken to assist in self-administration or the giving of medications while reducing the risks of improper medication that could result in serious consequences.